Air France 447

[Gerard M]

Does anyone know what altitude they were flying at? Because i can only presume that if it fell straight from that altitude and the pilot didn't glide it down or anything like that, that it would simply break up into millions of pieces when it hit the water?

[Philip Argy]

The evidence, sketchy as it is, suggests to me some kind of catastrophic break-up of the aircraft at or above FL350. No Mayday call, no EPIRB signal, no trace of the a/c as yet.

With one report suggesting there were ACARS messages reporting both a short circuit of some kind with the electricals, as well as a loss of cabin pressure, an electrical fire combined with oxygen mask deployment could plausibly result in an explosive combination. At cruise speed in a violent thunderstorm the debris field would surely be very widely spread, making for an almost impossible recovery task.

I certainly hope the CVR and FDR are found - it would be extraordinary if no trace of the a/c were located at all. And very hard on friends and relatives in that kind of scenario, with no 'closure'.

[Marty H]

Certianly doesnt rule out terrorism, no mayday or distress call, almost Pan Am 103 like

[Philip Argy]

In breaking news a ham radio operator appararently claims to have intercepted Brazilian Air Force radio transmissions to the effect that aircraft seats have been spotted some 180 nm north east of Natal on Brazil's north east coast, the same location at which a Tam Airlines crew reported seeing 'patches of orange [fire]' during their westbound transit.

The water depth in the area is reported to exceed 1,000 metres, making recovery of the recorders a logistical challenge of some complexity.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

The water depth in the area is reported to exceed 1,000 metres, making recovery of the recorders a logistical challenge of some complexity.

Not too bad, easy enough for a small sub anyway.

It's finding it that is the obvious problem, and they might never find it if it broke up at 35,000 feet...though I would expect them to.

[Gerard M]

And the cost...i'd imagine the cost would be a factor in the retrieval/search for the wreckage and the boxes. But i suppose they can't not go look for it even if it does cost a fair bit of coin. They wouldn't not go down there to look for it would they?

[Philip Argy]

With a French airline, a French aircraft and the majority of passengers French, I would say the odds are high that France will pursue the recovery effort as a matter of national importance.

[damien b]

If the US Navy can recover a nuclear bomb that was accidently dropped into the ocean way back in the 1960's, i think modern submersibles can recover the FDR/CVR's as long as they survived the impact. Water depth is reported to be around 4,700m which is within the reach of modern submersibles.

I'm sure Airbus, along with Air France will do all they can to recover as much information as possible to work out why the A330 was lost.

It certainly is looking like a catastrophic structural failure due to turbulance or massive electrical failure leading to loss of control.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by damien b

Water depth is reported to be around 4,700m which is within the reach of modern submersibles.

But the pressure at that depth may well have crushed any CVR/FDRs that may be on the ocean floor, possibly rendering them useless...assuming they can be found.

[NickN]

The pressure at 4,700m would be equivalent to approximately 234kg/cm2 or 6,783 PSI.

I can't find the exact parameters of what the black box can handle in terms of deep sea pressure. If anybody has them please post them up.